


Red is The Best Color

by Voidfrick



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Child Abuse, F/F, Fluff and Angst, God Tier, M/M, Scars, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 02:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5895172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voidfrick/pseuds/Voidfrick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>EDIT: In which Dave has disappeared when Karkat wakes up.<br/>__________</p>
<p>a.k.a Dave Fucking Dies: The Musical</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red is The Best Color

Karkat's eyes shot open. He slowly sat up, rubbing them. Looking down, he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. Back on Alternia, you normally slept with your clothes on. Sure it messed them up, but it just wasn't seen as right back then. But it was so warm here on LOHAC. Sometimes, it even made him wish he was back on the meteor. Drifting through Paradox Space had been boring at some times, but a lot happened on that hunk of rock. Karkat fondly recalled one person in particular. Curling up to watch rom-coms, mixing music, hanging with the mayor...it was pretty great. He'd never let Dave know that though. He'd kinda kept his feelings to himself most of the time, not like Dave would return them. Karkat looked around the room. "Where the fuck is my shirt?" he whispered to himself. All he could find was one of Dave's old broken record shirts. He slipped it on. It was a little big, but it would work. Karkat walked out of Dave's room and into his hall. He navigated through, eyeing all the strange puppet related items. It still freaked him the fuck out. Entering the kitchen, there was still no sign of Dave. Karkat frowned. They had made an agreement to leave each other a note if they were going out of the apartment and into the world. Not having anything better to do, Karkat sat down and waited for Dave's return.

It had been half an hour since Karkat had sat down. He was seriously worried now. Uncapctaloging his sickle, he walked out of the apartment and surveyed the scene. Jumping from gear to gear, he was bothered by the erie silence. All he could hear was the bubbling and sizzling of lava around him. Not even a “nak” could be heard from one of LOHAC’s god awful crocodile people. Off in the distance, Karkat saw something. Narrowing his eyes, he made out the shape of the Mayor, frantically jumping around. “Oh fuck… “ Karkat whimpered, sensing something was seriously wrong. Quickly spotting a path across the gears, he made his way to the Mayor. As he jumped from gear to gear, he began to think back to one of his favorite memories. He had been watching Crazy, Stupid, Love. with Dave on the meteor. He remembered staring at Dave as he laughed and smiled at some of the funny scenes, even though he swore he hated the movie. During one of the scenes he thought was the funniest, Dave laughed so hard his glasses fell off. When this happened, they revealed his crimson eyes. 

Dave’s face had flushed red. He quickly picked up his glasses and slid them on as fast as he could. Laughing uncomfortably, he brought his knees to his chest. Karkat stared at him as he froze up out of embarrassment “What’s the matter?” he asked, confused. Dave replied, shakily. “Bro you straight up saw that shit. Don’t sit here and try to play me with that bullshit, I’m not an instrument.” Karkat was still confused. “Your…eyes? What the fuck is wrong with your eyes? They seem seem pretty damn normal to me.” he retorted. This caused Dave to laugh, leaving Karkat more confused than ever. Dave explained, seeing his “bro’s” confused expression. “Back on Earth, this shit was crazier than the Kardashians. Before I got the shades, people stared at me like I was a straight up alien -no offense.” Lowering his legs, he turned to Karkat. Karkat remembered how he had opened his mouth as if he was gonna say something, and then stopped before he did. He also remembered his stoic expression growing slightly hurt, as if he had recalled some bad memories. Karkat had taken a breath. “Strider, look. Back on Alternia with our shitty hemospectrum, I am the absolute lowest and worst you can be. As a matter of fact, I’m not even fucking on it. I’m what they call a ‘mutant blood.’ So trust me, I get it.” Dave looked intrigued, so naturally Karkat told him all about the shitty system and eye colors for the rest of the movie. 

Karkat snapped back to the worrying reality when he landed in front of the Mayor. The little guy frantically signaled Karkat to follow him. Chasing after him, Karkat’s fears began to grow. The Mayor led him to a tall metal tower. Karkat immediately began to climb, using his sickle to help him. The closer he got to the top, the more he could hear. It sounded like Dave was fighting a hoard of imps. Karkat climbed faster. He heard a series of Dave’s sword clanging against the top of the structure, imps growling and Dave grunting as he tried to fight them off. When Karkat was about 3/4 of the way up, he heard Dave moan. “SHIT!” Karkat stiffened and called up to him. “Oh fuck, Dave hold on I’m on my way!” Karkat climbed as fast as he could, almost slipping off a few times. Karkat’s hand was on he edge of the roof when he heard one last clash of sword on metal, before hearing Dave fall down. Karkat pulled himself up onto the roof and gasped. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of dead imps were sprawled all over the roof. In the center was one fallen Strider. Karkat ran over to his crumpled body. There was a bad slash on Dave’s side, leaking bright red all over his god tier pajamas. Karkat dropped to his knees.

“Dave..?” he said softly. Cherry tears began to form in Karkat’s eyes. “F-Fuck.” he sobbed, the tears running down his gray face. Dave wasn’t breathing. “Dave?” Karkat shook his body a little bit. “Dave this isn’t fucking funny get the hell up!” he began to yell, still sobbing. It was too late. He wrapped his arms around Dave’s body, getting blood all over Dave’s white broken record shirt. Grossly sobbing, he raised his crab watch to his mouth. He called Kanaya. “K-Kanaya! Kana-ya do y-you read me!?” Another voice answered. “Karkat? This is Rose. What is wrong? Are you crying?” Karkat wiped his tears away. “D-Dave.” was all he could make out before starting to cry so hard that he couldn’t talk. Rose sounded really concerned. “What is wrong with Dave? Karkat? Karkat do you read?” Karkat was crying to hard to respond. All that he could make out was a long wail. Karkat stared at Dave’s pale face. He watched as one of his red tears fell down on his cheek. Rose kept calling Karkat’s name and asking questions, but he barely heard her. He just kept staring at Dave’s face. He began to remember. He began to remember everything.

He remembered the first time he felt flushed for Dave, as he watched him mix music. He remembered when Dave had caught him staring, and how he made jokes about it. He remembered, hopscotch, he remembered hearing Dave’s music, his laugh, his smile, his eyes… Karkat began to feel numb. Finally lifting up his crab phone, he answered the screaming Rose. “Dave’s dead.” The words felt fake. He heard Rose’s reply. “How did he die?” Her voice was shaky, and Karkat could hear Kanaya waking up in the background. “Rose who are you communicating with?” Kanaya asked, sleepily. Rose didn’t answer. “Rose?” Karkat heard her ask again. Karkat gently slipped the shades off of Dave’s face. He stared at the dark sunglasses in his hands, then he shifted his eyes to Dave’s now closed eyes. More red tears poured down Karkats face as he thought back to a certain point in the conversation regarding Dave’s eyes.

“So trolls have different blood colors, and whatever your blood color is, when you’re older, your eyes change that color. Make sense?” Karkat asked the curious Dave. “Yeah I catch your drift. So uh, what’s your blood color? Is it gray?” Dave asked, grabbing Karkat’s arm to study his veins. Karkat blushed and pulled his arm away. “No fuckass!” he had exclaimed, panicked. “You wear gray if you don’t want people to know your blood color.” Karkat looked back to the movie. Dave positioned himself so that his legs would rest on Karkat’s lap. “C’mon bro, you have to tell me!” he complained. “I already know you’re a mutant or whatever, so why does it matter if I know the color?” Karkat stared at Dave’s legs, and then looked Dave in the face again. He hesitated for a moment, but told him. “It’s red. Bright red. In a few years we’ll have the same eye color.” he answered. Dave sat silent for a moment before speaking again. “Give me your sickle.” he said. “What? Hell no!” Karkat spat back. “Karkat. Give me your sickle.” Dave said again, more firmly. “Why?” Karkat questioned. “Just do it.” he replied. Karkat reluctantly took out his sickle and handed it to Dave. Dave then dragged the tip of the sickle across the palm of his hand. “Dave what the hell are you-“ He stopped when he say the color of Dave’s blood. It was red. Bright red. Dave handed back the sickle. “Red’s the best color.” he said.

Rose had explained to Kanaya what happened, and now both Rose and Kanaya were probing Karkat for answers. Karkat hung up on them. He just couldn’t answer their questions right now. Karkat’s eyes moved down to the slash in Dave’s side, which was leaking red. Something started happening to the blood. It started glowing. Karkat backed away. The blood looked as if it were made of space, and was now rapidly changing colors. He watched as Dave’s body began to levitate and glow as well. He faded into a silhouette as wisps of color swirled around and arose from his body. His cape flowed behind him as he slowly descended and opened his eyes. The slash was gone from his side, along with all the blood. Karkat was filled with happiness and disbelief. “Karkat where are my-“ Dave was cut off when Karkat pulled him into a kiss. Dave flushed red. Closing his eyes, he kissed Karkat back. Karkat pulled back and in a split second, realized what he just did. “Oh fuck, Dave I-“ Dave pressed a finger to his lips, a grin on his face. Karkat wiped the tears from his face, but more leaked out. He was still sobbing a little. “Shhh Karkat it’s okay. I’m okay.” Dave said as he pulled Karkat into a hug. Dave rested his chin on top of Karkat’s head and they held on for what seemed like forever to Karkat. 

After the long while, they finally broke their hug and started climbing down. Soon, Dave broke the silence. “Where are my shades?” he asked again, slightly panicked. Karkat handed them over. “I’m sorry.” he said silently after Dave slid them back on. Dave was confused. “For what?” he asked. Karkat’s blush was enough to answer Dave’s question. “Oh.” Dave said. “Don’t be. It was…nice.” Dave passed for a moment, blushing and smiling. He wiped the grin off his face. “No homo though.” he added quickly. Karkat looked away. “I forgot about your human “gay” thing.” he said, defeated. “Yup.” Dave said nervously with a twinge of pain. The rest of their climb down was silent. They reunited with the Mayor at the bottom before Karkat realized he never told the girls on LOLAR that Dave was okay. He quickly did so and continued on with Dave. They were about half way back when suddenly, Dave stopped. “Karkat…” he said as if he wasn’t sure how to put his words together. “Yeah?” Karkat replied silently. “Karkat I think…maybe I…I think…that..” Dave’s face was bright red. “Just fucking tell me Strider.” Karkat replied, deflated. “The no homo thing.” Dave started again. “What about it?” Karkat growled. “Maybe I…fuck Karkat. Why is this so hard?” Dave said, laughing uncomfortably. “Just say it numbnuts!” Karkat yelled. He was obviously hurting from being shot down by Dave 15 minutes earlier. Dave stared into his eyes and a shit eating grin slid across Dave’s face. He quickly pulled Karkat into a dip kiss. Hell, if he was gonna do it, he had to make it over the top. 

Of course Karkat kissed back; this was the shit his dreams were made of. After they finally stopped kissing, Dave spoke. “Karkat I’m gay for you.” Karkat was smiling from ear to ear. “So you…like me?” he asked. Dave was smiling too. “Yeah. That’s what I just said.” The Mayor was way head of them and almost back to the apartment. “The mayor seems to know where he’s going. I can fly us there.” Dave said smoothly. Karkat narrowed his eyes. “How the fuck are you gonna fly me over there?” he asked. Dave scooped Karkat up in his arms. “Like this.” he said. Dave then began to fly back up to the apartment. Karkat gripped onto Dave and laughed the whole way back. Soon Dave landed back at the apartment. “Uh. Karkat. You can stand now.” Karkat remained curled up in Dave’s arms. “I know.” he replied. Dave smiled and shook his head. “Damn you’re cute.” he muttered to himself. When they were inside, Dave threw Karkat on the bed. Dave paused for a moment. “Is that my shirt?” he asked. Karkat looked down at it and blushed. “Yeah. I couldn’t find my-“ Before Karkat could finish, Dave had pinned him down and kissed him. “I think this is where we left off.” Dave said, hovering only inches above Karkat. He lowered himself down and began to kiss his neck. “I’ve…waited so long..for this.” Karkat gasped, loving the feeling of Dave’s lips on his neck. Dave smiled. “Me too.” Dave replied. He stopped kissing Karkat’s neck and slid off his shades. 

Karkat blushed when he saw his crimson eyes again. “I love your eyes.” Karkat said without meaning to. A small smile slid across Dave’s face. “Well, that makes one of us.” he said quietly, looking down. Suddenly, Dave took off his shirt. Karkat had always secretly watched when he did this, but this time it didn’t have to be a secret. He examined the marks on Dave’s sides near his hips and on his arms. “Do all humans have those?” he asked, pointing to the longer stripes. They were faded, just lighter streaks on his skin. Dave looked down. “No Karkat. I gave these to myself.” Dave lied down beside Karkat. “How’d you do that?” Karkat asked as he gently grabbed one of Dave’s arms, examining the lines. They were almost invisible, but still noticeable. “I…cut myself.” Dave choked out, shrinking a little bit. Dave began laughing uncomfortably, like he always did when he tried to hide emotions. Karkat stared at him shocked. “The fuck did you do that for?” he asked in disbelief. “I stopped now but, I did it so I didn’t have to feel… stuff.” Dave looked at Karkat’s hand, which was now wrapped around his wrist. “My brother did some fucked up shit to me. It messed me up mentally in many ways.” Dave’s eyes started to become shiny as he recalled bad memories. “I spent a lot of days in this room alone. Not all these scars are from myself.” He gestured to one of the longer ones on his side. “He gave me my first real sword when I was eight. Ever since then it had been nothing but random ambush attacks. It wasn’t play fighting either. One wrong move and I could die. I came close plenty of times. It wasn’t only physical abuse though.” Tears leaked out of Dave’s eyes. “He’d taunt me when I begged him to stop hurting me. He called me a pussy, then would hit me again. When I was 10, he somehow figured out that I liked a guy. That was the worst beat down I had ever received in my entire life. I’ve never come out to anyone and I hide my emotions on instinct because of shit he’s pulled like that.” Karkat’s eyes were filled with sadness and anger. “I’ll kick your brothers ass if he gets even remotely close to you ever again.” he growled. Dave replied emotionless. “He died. I don’t have to be afraid anymore, but I still am.” Karkat slipped off the shirt he was wearing as well. After he did so, he quickly pulled Dave into an embrace. “I’m still here to protect you.” Dave smiled, burying himself in Karkat’s arms.

“I love you Karkat.”  
“I love you too, Dave.”

**Author's Note:**

> Should I make a series? This is really just a one-shot but if you think I should write a full story please let me know what you're interested in!


End file.
